


Moments with Chase

by LadyAnneNeville



Category: House M.D.
Genre: Apologies, Episode: s03e15 Half-Wit, Friendship, Gen, HIV/AIDS, Hurt/Comfort, Music, Piano, Serious Illness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:15:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28906950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyAnneNeville/pseuds/LadyAnneNeville
Summary: A collection of one shots and moments too short to be stand alone stories focusing on Robert Chase. Most will be hurt/comfort. I’ll add more tags as I add more chapters but each chapter can be read as a stand alone piece, that exists in a separate universe from the others unless explicitly stated.Chapter One: Chase tells House he has been diagnosed with AIDSChapter Two: House, Wilson and Cuddy discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the original teamChapter Three: Chase shows up on House's doorstep to apologise for his actions in Half-Wit
Relationships: Lisa Cuddy & Greg House & James Wilson, Robert Chase & Greg House
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16





	1. Breaking bad news should be easier when your boss doesn’t care.

Chase walked into House’s office. The Tritter disaster was finally over and their patient looked like he was on the road to recovery. It was late but House was still at work, sitting at his desk, playing his gameboy. Foreman and Cameron had already gone home for the evening and now it was time for Chase to do the thing he’d been psyching himself up for most of the week.

At first he was avoiding it because House was low on Vicodin and in an awful mood, then it was because he wanted a conclusive test (he’d done the test several times under a fake name down in the lab on his lunch break), then they had a patient and it was better not to disturb House with trivial things while his mind was focused on a case but now he had run out of excuses.

House looked up as Chase entered.

“What are you still doing here, go home.” Was all the older man said.

“I need to talk to you about something, it’s important and it could affect my work here, although I’ll do my best to keep any interference as minimal as possible.” Chase said, walking in and taking a seat on the other side of the desk, knowing House wouldn’t invite him.

House lowered his gameboy and turned his shrewd eyes on Chase.

“Does this have anything to do with Jonathan Evans? Who is he, an ex lover? I didn’t have you pegged for swinging both ways but you’re too pretty to be straight.” House tossed out. 

Chase froze for a moment, feeling called out, then unbuttoned the cuff of his left shirt sleeve and pulling it up to reveal a scaly red lesion on his forearm. He had to stay calm now, the shock value of the visual evidence should be enough.

“A pseudonym, and I’m straight. I think I must have caught it off an old girlfriend I hooked up with when I went to Australia to sort out my father’s affairs. She swore she was both clean and on birth control and like a fool I believed her. To her credit I don’t think she knew she had it.” 

Chase now had House’s full attention. House took Chase’s arm holding it carefully at the wrist and elbow, far away from the legion.

“You’ve had no other symptoms?”

“I lost a little weight, I had a cough it took me a while to kick, but I thought both of those could be put down to stress. This appeared last week and grew quickly. I did the test three days ago.” This was easier now. This was medicine, symptoms and timelines, he was a doctor here, and it felt easier if he spoke in a detached way like he wasn’t also the patient.

“What treatment are you taking for it?” House was still acting detached but it was obvious from the lack of snide comments that the man cared.

“Nothing yet. I need to make an appointment. I only did the test three days ago.” Chase knew he probably should have acted sooner but he was still at least partially in denial. House’s eyes flashed with anger.

“If you did the test three days ago you should have made an appointment three days ago, not still be procrastinating. This isn’t a HIV positive diagnosis where the disease is in the early stages and can easily be kept from progressing with medication. This is full blown AIDS. You need to see someone now!”

“I’m sorry.” The apology felt limp.

“You damn well should be.” House snarled back. 

“Are you going to fire me?” Chase asked. He hated himself for asking the question because if the thought hadn’t occurred to House before it was in the air now. He had to know though. Without this job he lost his visa and would have to go back to Australia where all he had were a few friends he mostly kept in touch with via email scattered across the country. There would be no support system there. Not for something like this. At least the medical bills would be cheaper but it was little consolation.

“Until you’re crappy immune system lets in an infection that compromises your brain you’re still of use to me.” House finally said back which was probably House speak for he wouldn’t be fired unless he was too sick to work. 

House pulled out his prescription pad and wrote one out, handing the page to Chase.

“As you haven’t bothered to organise a doctor yourself I’ll be your doctor for now. You’ll fill this at the pharmacy before you leave the hospital and start taking the pills tonight. I’ll get you in with Wilson tomorrow for a consult about the cancer on your arm. Now get out of here and don’t think I won’t check with the pharmacy to make sure you filled that prescription.” 

House pointedly returned to his gameboy. 

Of all the possible reactions Chase had anticipated, this one hadn’t occurred to him. He got up onto shakes feet and walked to the door. He hesitated before going through it. 

“Thank you.” He said at House, carefully watching for any sign of acknowledgment.

None were forthcoming, save House’s fingers, busy at his game, freezing for a moment before carrying on.

It could have been a reaction to something else of course, but Chase liked to think it meant his thanks had been heard.


	2. Future Musings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At an oncology fundraiser in the early part of series three House, Wilson and Cuddy discuss the future of the diagnostics department and the merits and deficits of each of the current fellows: Cameron, Foreman and Chase.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At an oncology fundraiser in the early part of series three House, Wilson and Cuddy discuss the future of the diagnostics department and the merits and deficits of each of the current fellows: Cameron, Foreman and Chase.

“Do you think you’ll ever have a fellow you could promote to an attending?” Wilson asked. It was a fundraiser for the oncology department and Wilson, House and Cuddy found themselves alone at a table. It was late and they were more than slightly tipsy.

Cuddy turned to stare at House.

“That’s an excellent question.” She grinned. “You’ve had at least thirty fellows in the time you’ve been head of department and none of them stayed more than two months until Chase, and once you found him the other two followed, so what’s different about these three?”

House took a sip of his bourbon.

“They’re more willing to put up with my bullshit.” House said. Utterly non committal. “Well Chase is, and I’m pretty sure the other two didn’t want to be shown up by quitting when he could stick it out and then they both got used to me.”

“There’s got to be more to it than that.” Wilson pointed out. “You fire people you don’t like, who aren’t talented enough.”

“They’re a good team, they balance each other out well, the different specialties mean they bring a good variety of ideas and they don’t let each other get complacent. I will deny I said a single word of this mushy crap if it gets back to them.” House continued. He was between cases but the last one had been challenging and he solved it so he was still riding the high and the good mood.

Cuddy hummed with a smirk on her face.

“You didn’t answer the question.” She said. “Who out of your current team could you see as an attending, running a second diagnostics team alongside you?”

“Planning to expand the department?” House asked.

“Not yet.” Cuddy said. “But our diagnostics department makes us one of the best hospitals in a five hundred mile radius and for the first time you’ve had fellows, consistently, for longer than a year. It would be irresponsible for me as an administrator not to consider cashing in on that.”

“Well you clearly have your eye on one of them.” Wilson said pointedly, rather more tipsy than the other two. “Which one is it?”

Cuddy was quiet for a moment, enjoying the full attention of the other two men before taking another sip of her drink and spilling her thoughts.

“Foreman.” She said, triumphantly.

House burst out laughing.

“What’s so wrong with Foreman?” She asked, rhetorically. “He’s diligent, an excellent doctor, he’s good at managing people, he proved he could manage you last year and that is no small task.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re a saint for being able to manage me. I get it.” House interrupted. “And Foreman is all of those things you said, a strong team member, a good manager, great at manipulating people, ruthless when he wants to be but able to put up a good empathic front for patients. In any other department he would be an amazing attending.”

“But not in diagnostics?” Wilson asked. “Why not? It’s rare enough for you to sing anyone’s praises, let alone a subordinates, what does Foreman not have that means he’s unsuited to the role.”

“Talent.” House replied, simply.

“You just said he was an excellent doctor.” Cuddy pointed out.

“He is an excellent doctor.” House replied. “Every fellow I have ever had has been an excellent doctor, it doesn’t mean he’s an excellent diagnostician. To be a good diagnostician you need more than excellence, you need fantastic instincts, confidence in your own diagnosis and the flexibility and humility to be able to switch course quickly if you’re wrong without taking it personally. Foreman's good, but he’s not good on humility although he’s getting better when it comes to diagnosing, but he’s just not talented enough and no amount of hard work or further experience will give him that.

“Who’s singing their own praises now?” Cuddy pointed out.

“House, clearly you’re a model of humility. Why didn’t we notice before.” Wilson mocked.

“I didn’t mean personally, but professionally, I have no issue letting go of a wrong diagnosis.” House grumbled.

Cuddy was pensive. “That’s an impossible standard. Have you ever met any doctor who has the kind of talent or instincts you’re talking about.”

“Yes.” House said smugly.

“Then why didn’t you just say that. Who do you think could be an attending with you?”

“I don’t think they could be an attending, not in diagnostics anyway.” House said, enjoying the conversational banter.

“Can you just explain who you’re talking about?” Cuddy was beginning to get worked up, and not in the fun way. House considered keeping the game going, but he was enjoying his drink and was in no hurry to have a fight.

“Chase is the only one who has the talent and potential to, if not match me in diagnostics, come very close. Why do you think he’s the first fellow I ever kept around. But he’s too used to being a subordinate and has no experience managing people. In another department that’s fine, he can learn on the job, there’s a support system, but there isn’t in diagnostics. And in diagnostics you make risky decisions every day without having the support net of other attendings at the same level around you to learn from. If he was a little older, and had some management experience, a bit more self confidence, in his ability to be a diagnostician, not his ability to pick up girls, it would be him. But he doesn’t so none of them could be a fellow attending in diagnostics.”

The other two were surprised, but perhaps they shouldn’t have been, Chase was the least flashy of the team, but he was right more often.

“You haven’t mentioned, Cameron.” Cuddy pointed out. “You’re not overlooking her because she’s a woman are you.” 

“Cameron has a different style from Foreman but her strengths are broadly the same. She’s good at managing people, a good doctor, I could see her being a department head in the future, but when it comes down to the raw talent you need to run a diagnostics team, the only one of the current three who has it is Chase.”

Being friends with House was always going to be surprising.

Eight months later, House fired Chase because he had “learned all he could” and the others quit in solidarity. Once Cuddy got over her anger, she contacted both Chase and Cameron with an offer, Foreman having already accepted employment at another hospital. Chase became a surgical attending and Cameron replaced the retiring Dr Khan as head of Emergency Medicine. Maybe House did have a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like my writing, please leave a review saying what you liked!


	3. Apology Gifts (3x15 tag)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tag to Season Three's 'Half Wit'. 
> 
> A founding idea of Chase's character is that he respects House, and he respects the agency of others, especially people who know what they are doing. So about a week after Half Wit, enough time has passed for Chase to realise he's sorry for getting House kicked off the cancer trial, not because he wants House to put himself at risk, but because he respects House's ability to make his own decisions.

It took Chase nearly a week to pluck up the courage to actually go round to House’s apartment and apologise. Without the urgency of a mistaken cancer diagnosis and knowing the frosty reception he had received last time he was 80 percent sure House would just turn him away at the door but he wanted to try.

It was a Thursday evening, relatively early, House had left nearly an hour ago and while his boss sometimes went out in the evenings, he didn’t have much of a social life, at least not on weekdays when Wilson chose to be responsible so there was a good chance that he would be in. Chase was armed with a couple of gifts, just in case.

He rang the doorbell the moment he arrived lest he lost his nerve and waited. A minute or so later there was the variation on House’s familiar footsteps, a more pronounced limp but no rhythmic tap of the cane and the door was opened.

House opened the door and immediately put his wallet back in his back pocket. Clearly he was expecting a food delivery. Or a hooker, but Chase wasn’t sure why House would choose to open the door with his wallet in his hand for a hooker.

“What the hell are you doing here?” House asked, irritably.

“I came to apologise.” Chase started, going for the same brusque matter of fact manner he adopted when he hugged House the week before. It had gotten him results then, and there was a good chance it would work now. House looked at him for a moment, before turning and limping back into the apartment. He didn’t shut the door in Chase’s face so Chase took that as an invitation to follow him. He walked in, carefully wiping his feet, not sure whether House would care about such a thing but not wanting to give the older man a reason to throw him back out, and followed House into his living area. House placed himself down on the sofa, firmly rubbing his ruined thigh, and Chase stood awkwardly in the vicinity.

“Are these..” House gestured loosely to the packages Chase was holding, “apology gifts.” he finished.

Chase handed the two packages over and House took them, and placed them next to him on the sofa without opening them. He nodded once at the armchair and Chase sat quickly, not wanting to jinx his good fortune. 

“So why are you here.” House stated, more than he asked.

“I told you, to apologise.” Chase repeated, feeling awkward.

“You’ve screwed up before, professionally and personally, in the four years you’ve worked for me you’ve never once come to my home to apologise. You’ve apologised at work sometimes, more often you get defensive and refuse to apologise if you don’t think you’re in the wrong, or you get overly helpful to make up for whatever it was you messed up, but you’ve never come here before so I’m going to need a little more than ‘I came here to apologise’ from you.”

“I wanted to say sorry for last week, when we came here.” Chase started.

“Foreman and Cameron are both still furious with me for faking cancer, and you’re sorry.” House cut in. “Interesting. Continue.” Chase felt a frisson of annoyance before clamping down on it and continuing.

“I’m not sorry for waking you up and coming over, I’m not sorry for doing everything I could to investigate when I thought you had cancer, I’m not sorry for hugging you, I’m definitely not sorry for trying to save you.” Chase said, House knew him far too well for Chase not to be specific now.

“You know this is sounding less and less like an apology.” House said lightly.

“I’m sorry for not respecting you.” Chase raised his voice slightly to cut in. “And I’m sorry for not listening to you. You said several times not to assume you had cancer, and with the evidence we had from the scans I knew you should be showing symptoms if you really had advanced stage brain cancer. I should have listened and worked out what was actually going on rather than jumping to the worst conclusions despite knowing that the evidence didn’t add up. Then when I worked out you, sorry, the patient whose data we had, didn’t have cancer, I should have stopped Foreman ringing Boston and contacted you first, rather than getting you kicked off the trial.”

House was good at silence, and Chase could be good at silence but right now he was on edge and working hard not to visibly squirm under his boss’s scrutiny.

“You figured out the patient didn’t have cancer?” House asked. “How?”

“When looking at the protein markers in one of the samples I noticed some inconsistencies.” Chase shrugged. House leaned back against the sofa cushions as the doorbell rang again.

“Go pay for my pizza.” House ordered. Chase jumped up to do as he was told, House wasn’t kicking him out yet, so the conversation wasn’t finished. Paying for the man’s pizza was a small price to pay.

As Chase returned to the seating area and placed the pizza box on the coffee table House asked:

“Did you want me to take part in an extremely dangerous trial where they stuck stuff in my brain, knowing I could end up dead or a vegetable from it? Because that’s pretty cold, even for a brit.”

“No.” Chase objected immediately, before moving to sit back in the armchair and trying to surreptitiously take a deep breath so he could seem calm and confident again. Cool regained, he continued: “You’re a doctor, certainly the best doctor at PPTH, and you do risky procedures all the time but never without carefully weighing the risks against the benefits, and you were far more cautious with Foreman’s brain when he was sick than with a standard patient. You’re also in chronic pain, and I’ve realised this week how much I’ve taken for granted that the vicodin makes the pain in your leg bearable, when it’s entirely possible it does not, and you’ve just learned to function with it. You don’t seem depressed or suicidal so if you wanted to take part in this trial as a patient, then you must have had a damn good reason and I’m sorry for overriding your agency and taking this choice away from you.”

House’s mouth quirked into a grin. “I suppose I should count myself grateful you saved the heartfelt speeches for when you knew I was no longer dying.” He said. Chase felt some of his anxiety lift.

“Am I forgiven then?” He asked. House grinned and reached for the wrapped packages still sat beside him on the sofa.

“Depends on what you bought me.” House continued as he ripped the wrapping paper away from the first box. House’s hands stilled for a moment as he looked at the wooden box with the words Macallan 1937 printed on the front. House’s eyebrow quirked. “I thought you said you weren’t rich anymore?” He asked as he opened the box to admire the bottle within.

“Dad cut me out of his will, but I was still staying at his House to help sort out his things for the funeral. When I found out I may have been pissed and padded my suitcase with a few of his more valuable bottles. I’ve been selling them off slowly, at auction, but I know you like this brand and it seemed like a better use of the bottle.” Chase explained, hoping House would get a kick out of the story.

House grinned and put the bottle back within its box and placed it on the coffee table, instead choosing to have a slice of pizza. “$20,000 Whiskey is great but it doesn’t go with pizza, I’ll enjoy the stolen alcohol on a more special occasion.” House nudged the pizza box a half inch closer to Chase who took it as an invitation to have a slice.

“Did you steal anything else from your deceased father?” House asked, gleefully.

“As far as I’m concerned it was my inheritance.” Chase pushed back slightly. “And no, I took four bottles of wine that dated between 1900 and 1940, the Macallan and a 1943 Glenlivet. I’ve been selling the wine, slowly, and I’m making my way through drinking the Glenlivet. Dad only ever drunk alcohol with a meal, he was probably more strict with it than he would have been if Mum hadn’t…” Chase paused for a moment, not wanting to go into anything too personal, even though House probably knew it all. “Anyway, he bought the alcohol as an investment and while I needed to sell the wine to help cover the cost of last minute flights to Australia to bury the bastard, it felt quite satisfying to drink the Glenlivet. It’s about halfway gone, but if you want to taste it let me know and I’ll keep you some. I’ve sold half the wine, and when I’ve gotten enough savings together I’ll sell the other half so I can put a deposit down on a flat. Everyone I know my age that’s managed to buy property has only managed to do so because of relatives dying or family money and it seems unfair that I had both and yet haven’t got a deposit together.”

Chase was aware he was saying too much, he was normally a lot more cagey about personal information, but House seemed amused by it and not in the mood to be too cruel so the consequences weren’t so bad.

House reached instead for the second parcel, which was flat and around a4 sized.

“I have to say, if you got me a case file, I would have to dock most of the brownie points I gave you for the Macallan. More work does not make a good apology” House said as he opened it. It was not a case file. Instead a brand new, nicely printed edition of Liszt’s transcendental etudes was revealed. House looked at the book for a moment before looking back at Chase. “What was the thinking behind this?” He asked.

“You’re a very good pianist. And you like a challenge, Liszt is one of the more difficult composers and his transcendental etudes are more challenging than the paganini so I thought you might enjoy working on them.” Chase replied, going for nonchalance to avoid revealing the hours of uncertainty it had taken him to choose the gift. “I didn’t know if you already had them, sorry if that’s a repeat.” 

“I don’t already have them. You play piano.”

“What?”

“You play piano. It’s not a question, I already knew you played violin to a high standard because that was on your CV when you applied for the job, probably because you knew I was also a musician, but you play piano as well. Only a pianist would have chosen these. Have you ever played them?”

“I played the second one for my diploma. I’ve never touched the others, don’t get me wrong they’re beautiful, but when I want to challenge myself I learn a new piece on the violin. I tend to stick to pieces I can get after one or two practice sessions for the piano.” Chase explained. House’s look turned judgemental.

“Play it for me now.” He said, handing Chase the book and nodding towards the piano in the corner.

“I’m rusty, I’ll make mistakes.” Chase tried to get out of it, knowing that House was unlikely to let this go.

“Play it for me.” House insisted, holding the sheet music out. Chase hesitated just a moment and then took it.

“Fair warning, this could all go terribly and end up sounding nothing like Liszt’s 2nd Transcendental Etude.” Chase said as he walked over to the piano.

He sat himself down at the piano, taking the time to play a few arpeggios to get used to the dynamic range and feel of House’s keyboard. It was nice, sophisticated, and far superior to the keyboard Chase had at his flat.

“Hurry up and play the piece, enough warming up.” House demanded. Chase held the silence a moment longer, picturing the piece in his head, the narrative of it, how it felt to play and the moods he wanted to evoke with each segment, before finding his starting position and playing the piece. The opening was deceptively simple, but that was one of the reasons Chase had chosen it for his diploma, normally if the first 8-16 bars went well, the piece would work and an easier than average opening helped build confidence. He was able to move smoothly into the body of the piece, careful to bring out the melody, dynamics, emotion and sensitivity, it was romantic music after all and one of the most virtuosic pieces Chase had ever learned. He let himself get lost into the performance. 

It went fairly well. He made quite a few mistakes, but only two significant enough for him to stumble and interrupt the music, so it was likely House didn’t pick up on all of them. The edition he had purchased for House had page turns in different places than the edition he had learned on so he fumbled all but one of them, but he made it to the end, not completely happy with his performance, but confident it was at least recognisable as the same piece. He let his hands still and looked over at House.

“How old were you when you did your diploma?” House asked.

“I was 17, and at seminary in London.” Chase explained, confused as to why it was relevant.

“That explains why you chose such an angsty piece.” House grinned. “It wasn’t perfect but it was good, and you play with a lot of emotion. Explains why you’re so repressed at work, you put your feelings into music. And you’re right, it was a particularly difficult piece.” House rested his bad leg on the coffee table as he reached for another slice of pizza. “You can go home now.” He announced.

Chase had begun to relax but now he felt like he had whiplash. Things had been going well.

“Sorry?” Chase asked.

“Yes you said you were sorry. You brought suitably good apology gifts and I in my infinite mercy have decided to accept your apology. You can go home now. I’ll see you tomorrow at work.” House stated.   
Chase smiled with relief. In truth the evening had gone better than he had dared to hope. House had heard him out, more than that he had accepted Chase’s apology, and there was a good chance things would go back to normal at work tomorrow, without House shooting him pissed off looks and being overly irritated by him.

“Cheers.” Chase said, as he got up from the piano and walked to the door. “Have a good night, House.” He said as he left, and he heard the TV flick on in response. Things were going as well as they could be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, please leave a comment if you liked this. Comments keep me going!


End file.
